2y ago

Washington state Sen. Jeff Wilson arrested at Hong Kong airport over gun in bag

www.nbcnews.com

A Washington state senator was arrested at the airport in Hong Kong and charged with possession of an unregistered firearm, his office said.

Sen. Jeff Wilson, R-Longview, was detained at Hong Kong International Airport on Friday night after he found a pistol in his carry-on bag and reported it to customs officials.

He was released on bail Sunday and faces a hearing Oct. 30.

62 comments

he passed through security at the airport in Portland, Oregon, where it was not detected by baggage screeners.
Tonight on TSA's security theatre
- As long as you can buy all the ingredients to build an IED from the duty-free shop after the screening, you'll know how much TSA's "security" is worth.
  
  Had a razor taken off me at security. Went through, bought a magazine with the same one taped to the cover as a free gift
  
  What's ironic here is that this isn't a matter of incompetence, it's a matter of efficiency. There isn't much of a threat of hijacking airplanes, and there never has been. It's just that after 9/11 the spectacle of that even has caused the average person to overestimate the threat of terrorism in airports by several orders of magnitude. Therefore, while we're in no more danger than we were on 09/10/2001, people believe that there is a danger and if someone doesn't perform security, they won't fly. So, in order to appease these people who don't actually understand the situation but have the power to affect it, we all have to go through a little dance that's designed to look very much like security. Take your shoes off. Throw out your water bottle. Has anyone asked you to put anything in your bag for them? Put your shoes back on. Take your shoes back off. 95% of weapons in carry-on luggage make it through TSA screening and onto the plane. Put your shoes back on. Take your belt off.
- https://fee.org/articles/tsa-fails-95-of-the-time/
  An internal investigation of the Transportation Security Administration revealed security failures at dozens of the nation’s busiest airports, where undercover investigators were able to smuggle mock explosives or banned weapons through checkpoints in 95 percent of trials, ABC News has learned.
  In one test an undercover agent was stopped after setting off an alarm at a magnetometer, but TSA screeners failed to detect a fake explosive device that was taped to his back during a follow-on pat down.
- And yet my hands get swapped 10 years later for bringing a pair of sumo robots in my luggage.
  
  Can't tell you how many times my bag has been flagged because of my fucking Kindle.
- I know federal Congress doesn't have to go through airport security. I'm guessing it's the same for state?
Australian here.. I have never actually touched a handgun, in fact, I have never seen a handgun with my eyeballs outside of police/security.. it is weird how casual this seems
- “Woops, got so many firearms I didn’t even notice one was misplaced into my bag”
  And americans think that’s normal
- "I'm a responsible gun owner!" say every irresponsible gun owners.
  Fuck the USA and its constitution, it even becomes an issue the next country over because idiots get their firearms stolen and they make their way to Canada so gang members can shoot each other and kill bystanders at the same time.
  
  There are a lot of us here that would like to change things.
  
  I used to work at a place where a guy would bring his guns in his truck to work every day.
  To work in sales in an office in an industrial estate.
  They were locked in that metal case in the back of his Ram, but if you were robbing a truck isn't that the first place you'd look? I also am willing to bet they weren't disassembled, cased, ammo separate either.
  
  I was in the military, I regularly practice and teach responsible use and ownership. My background checks are clean and I never use firearms while under the influence of anything. All of my firearms are well maintained and locked away or disabled when they are not.
  Guns are just guns. They are fun to shoot and a useful tool for hunting. Quite honestly, I love the precision engineering that it takes to contain up to 65,000 psi and direct that energy in a controlled manner.
  Your generalization of responsible gun owners is bad, unfortunately. You seem to demonize people blindly and that is simply not healthy and not fair to people who actually respect what these tools actually are.
  I am guessing your experience around firearms is basically nil and that is OK! Fear of them is a natural thing and is healthy to maintain a deep respect for any kind of high energy machinery.
  
  I'm sorry but you cannot blame the US for gun crimes in CA, that's absurd.
  
  It's a false dichotomy. There is no such thing as responsible gun owners and irresponsible gun owners, just gun owners. Believe it or not, human beings are frail and emotional creatures, prone to decompensation. Most of us will die without our faculties or dignity intact. It is this feature of humanity that makes gun ownership so dangerous.
  Along with the absolute nut jobs who's gullibility and lack of integrity seem to know no limit when it comes to interpreting the Second Amendment.
- Shouldn't be. But here in oh USA we treat it as our first born son. 🤦‍♂️
- You aren't missing much.
Idiots do idiotic things. Who let this idiot on a plane with a gun in the first place?
- TSA
  
  Theatre of Security Agency
Run for public office and get 5 weeks vacation time with your beloved firearm while you deny basic human decency for the people who elect you.
Offer valid only if you have the magic ‘R’ next to your name
How do people do this by accident?
- They're very, very stupid.
- It's not an accident
  
  He found the gun itself and turned it in. Why would he have it with him on purpose when he willingly decided to turn it in? It wasn’t found by airport authorities first.
- They're irresponsible gun owners is how.
  
  I assume he's used to just blithely carrying around guns everywhere without thinking about it.
- As in: "Keep 'em as long as you want"?
I hope he loses his concealed carry permit at the very least.
The Senator, pulled away by police with his pants round his ankles, "Hey, I thought this was America?!"
- He's from Longview, so that tracks better than you realize.

62 comments